Biography

31 August 1918, New York, USA, d. June 1986. A lyricist and librettist, and one of the most eminent and literate personalities in the history of the Broadway musical theatre, Lerner played the piano as a child, and studied at the Juilliard School of Music, the Bedales public school in England, and Harvard University, where he took a Bachelor of Science degree in the late 30s. After working as a journalist and radio scriptwriter, he met composer Frederick Loewe at the Lambs Club in 1942. Also a pianist, Loewe had moved to the USA in 1924, and had previously been involved in some unsuccessful musical shows. The new teams first efforts, Whats Up? and The Day Before Spring (1945; A Jug Of Wine, I Love You This Morning), did not exactly set Broadway alight, but two years later, they had their first hit with Brigadoon. Lerners whimsical fantasy about a Scottish village that only comes to life every 100 years, contained...